Syria

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Monday 11th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

The groups outside Syria that we are supporting—the kind of groups that I have been meeting in Istanbul—include the Syrian National Council, which is the largest of these groups, although some of the minority ethnic communities are not yet affiliated to it, and we want them to come together. All our support is non-lethal. Our assistance takes the form that I described in my statement—communications equipment, training, and human rights monitoring. No armed intervention is being practised or sanctioned by the United Kingdom at the moment.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

After meeting Chancellor Merkel recently, Russia’s President Putin sought to claim impartiality, reportedly saying, “We are not for Assad and neither for his opponents.” If this were really so, does the Foreign Secretary consider that future Russian support for a Security Council resolution referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court could help to deter future atrocities in that country?

[Mr Hague]

Certainly that is something that we have wanted to get going, and we have succeeded in doing so in the UN Human Rights Council resolution, which refers to the International Criminal Court. Such are the atrocities and the appalling nature of these crimes that if we could muster the votes to take that through the Security Council itself, we would do so. I hope that at some stage in the future we will be able to do so, and that we will be able to take the Russian leaders at their word on this, but what they have said recently about not being committed to Assad himself or to the Assad regime has not yet translated into a readiness to support such resolutions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Tuesday 17th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Burt]

I reiterate again that we raised with the Israeli authorities the issue of demolitions as one of great concern. They have been on the increase, and we see them as a setback to the peace process and to the need to build a proper relationship with the Palestinian authorities in order to get an ultimate settlement resolved. It will be resolved only within that context, but we are concerned about the recent increase, and we make our representations very clear.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

I have great concerns about demolitions in East Jerusalem, and the Foreign Secretary himself recently talked about Israeli settlements in the west bank being illegal under international law, counter-productive, destabilising and provocative, but other than words of criticism are there any consequences for the Israeli Government, or do they pursue those policies with impunity?

[Alistair Burt]

My hon. Friend makes very clear, by echoing my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary’s statement, how seriously the United Kingdom takes those issues and how constantly we raise them, but again I have to come back to the fact that Israel sees the issue differently, and accordingly it is one of those things that ultimately will be resolved only by the settlement that every Member wishes to see between the Palestinian authorities and Israel. Differences of opinion on the matter are likely to remain, but we are increasingly concerned about the activities in East Jerusalem, and my hon. Friend is right to raise them, as indeed was my right hon. Friend when he made his statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Tuesday 28th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Burt]

The health of the private sector economy is a component part of the all-round package for the future of the Palestinian Authority and Israel to which my hon. Friend alludes. There is no doubt that a comprehensive settlement will benefit both the state and private sector economies, and I am pleased that she raised the matter.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

9. What recent progress has been made in negotiations on an international arms trade treaty; and if he will make a statement.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Alistair Burt)]

The United Kingdom remains committed to a robust and effective arms trade treaty. The recent preparatory conference in New York had a successful outcome as far as the Government and leading non-governmental organisations were concerned, and we look forward to the full negotiating conference in July.

[Duncan Hames]

The UK delegation clearly proved crucial in making progress at the conference. Throughout the Arab spring, Governments in the region have used policing and security equipment, including tear gas and batten rounds, against peaceful protesters, sometimes with lethal effect. Will the Minister give his strong support to a genuinely bullet-proof treaty that includes those items?

[Alistair Burt]

We have said clearly that we want a comprehensive arms trade treaty, which would include all conventional weapons, including small arms and ammunition. The precise details of the treaty have yet to be negotiated. I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s comments about the noticeable support of NGOs. I particularly thank Amnesty International for its recent comment on the preparatory conference. It said that

“the UK championed our right to be in the room during final negotiations”.

That is a measure of our relationship with NGOs in support of a robust and effective treaty.

Oral Answers to Questions

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Tuesday 29th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

I hope, of course, that they will pay attention to the entirety of our representations, and to the strong feeling in this House and across the world that it is important to make a decisive move to reach a two-state solution to help to avoid the future strategic isolation of Israel. It is, therefore, the entirety of our representations that I would urge upon them.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

I share the Foreign Secretary’s concerns about the restrictions on Gaza. He reports that fewer than half of the agreed 15,000 vehicles a month are making it across the border to improve the humanitarian situation there. Most recently, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister spoke of further restrictions on energy and even water supplies in Gaza. Will the Foreign Secretary urge the Israeli Government to reject such collective punishments of the people in Gaza?

[Alistair Burt]

I was in Gaza a few months ago and able to observe the pressures on the state. I visited a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school to see the difficulties there. We will indeed continue to urge Israel to ease the restrictions on goods going in, because it is to the political and economic benefit of Gaza and Israel if that situation is eased.

Middle East and North Africa

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

It would not be in the interests of the United Kingdom for the Foreign Secretary, whoever that may be, to endorse any such remarks. We do not get into endorsing leaked conversations.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

The Foreign Secretary is more patient than I am in waiting for the Israeli Government to return to meaningful negotiations with the Palestinian authority. When will his patience, like mine, have run out?

[Mr Hague]

Well, it will not last for ever. I do not think the Israeli Government regard me—or the position of the United Kingdom—as patient on this subject because we have spoken to them extremely frankly about what they need to do. Nevertheless, however frustrated we are, we all have to recognise that the resumption of negotiations is the only way to bring about the Palestinian state that we seek. We have to act in a way that is in accordance with that, which is why we have taken the decision we have.

Oral Answers to Questions

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

7. What recent assessment he has made of the political and security situation in the horn of Africa.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)]

I visited the horn of Africa earlier this month. The security situation in Somalia remains a major concern. Piracy continues to present a significant threat. South Sudan’s independence is welcome, but agreement still needs to be reached on a comprehensive peace. The current drought in the horn of Africa is a serious humanitarian crisis affecting some 10 million people. We are working to prevent a crisis becoming a catastrophe, including helping to feed 1.3 million people facing starvation in Ethiopia.

[Duncan Hames]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for that answer. I sincerely hope that the massive movements of people do not aggravate a humanitarian disaster through increased international political tension. The UN World Food Programme says that changing weather patterns have led to

“an almost constant state of food insecurity”

in the region. What forward planning is his Department preparing to respond to the increased likelihood of future flashpoints such as this, caused in part by climate change?

[Mr Hague]

The agencies state that the food insecurity situation in the region is the most serious in the world today. We are doing a great deal. My right hon. Friend the International Development Secretary was there at the weekend and announced a further £52 million of aid. We are the second largest bilateral humanitarian donor to this region in the world, after the United States. On the longer-term issues, we are one of the foremost countries in the world in putting climate change at the heart of foreign policy considerations, and this is one of the reasons for that. The Department for International Development will give consideration to other longer-term measures that now need to be taken.

Middle East and North Africa

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Tuesday 26th April 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

Just because we cannot do everything does not mean that we should not do something. It has of course not been possible to save every life in Libya—this is an extremely messy and difficult situation—but the hon. Gentleman should be proud of the fact that, although he voted with a heavy heart, the vote in this House, and that in other Parliaments, to support military action has probably saved thousands of lives and saved tens or hundreds of thousands of people from a desperately difficult humanitarian situation. It is better to vote with a heavy heart than to be a faint heart about this situation.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

The Foreign Secretary carefully draws the distinction that the equipment supplied by Britain to the Libyan transitional national council is of a non-lethal nature, but in an era of improvised explosive devices how confident can we be that even telecoms equipment might not ultimately have a lethal use?

[Mr Hague]

We can be fairly confident that the transitional national council very much wants to use the telecommunications equipment that we have given it as telecommunications equipment, as it is doing. It would not be productive to divert that into other things. The other equipment that we have given is body armour, and it is quite difficult to use that in any way other than to save life.

Africa and the Middle East

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Monday 4th April 2011 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

I heard what the Foreign Secretary said to the hon. Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner) on asset freezing, but in a statement last week he painted quite a rosy picture to the House about the benefit to the Libyan people of a future Libyan Government spending those assets. Can he reassure us that any loosening of sanctions in response to those deserting the Gaddafi regime will not allow those people to take with them riches gained as a result of their long association with Gaddafi which belong to the Libyan people?

[Mr Hague]

Basically, yes, any changes in sanctions on people who have defected from the regime are likely, in terms of the quantity of money involved, to be infinitesimal compared with the assets of the regime and its companies. We are talking about tens of billions of dollars. The United States has frozen more than $30 billion-worth of assets, so we are talking about something very tiny when compared with the total scale of assets.

North Africa and the Middle East

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Thursday 24th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

Qatari forces are taking part in the enforcement of the no-fly zone.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

In these troubled times, Governments are swift to announce asset freezes for these astonishingly wealthy ruling elites. When a regime ultimately falls, as may turn out to be the case in Libya, what then happens to those assets?

[Mr Hague]

These assets belong to the people of Libya, and so in all normal circumstances—if we can describe any of these circumstances as normal—they would be available to a future Government of Libya. They are frozen, not confiscated. In this case, of course, they are very substantial. In the UK, we have frozen £12 billion of assets; in the United States, I think there were $30 billion of assets. That just shows that the Libyan people could have a much more prosperous future if they had a more economically open and politically free approach. Those assets are held for them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Duncan Hames Excerpts

Tuesday 15th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Air strikes against his own people, the use of mercenaries, the imprisonment of foreign journalists—what does the Foreign Secretary believe would be the impact on human rights elsewhere in the world were Gaddafi’s tactics seen to be successful?

[Mr Hague]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point, and a parallel point to the one that the Prime Minister made here yesterday. If Gaddafi succeeded in suppressing the desire for a freer and more open country in Libya, there are tyrants elsewhere who would draw the wrong lesson from it. That is why we are at the forefront of all the activity that I described during our Question Time today, but I stress alongside that that whatever we do must be legal and have international support.